The Maven RS.6 is a Worthy Successor to Cooper’s Scout Rifle

Is the venerable Col. Jeff Cooper’s concept of a scout rifle dead and buried? Not quite—the concept is still very much alive and well, even if the exact configuration Cooper came up with back in the early 1980s hasn’t exactly endured. That’s in no way a knock against Cooper anymore than saying nobody is running an Apple II as a daily-use PC is a knock against Steve Jobs. Like computers, rifles and ammunition have come a long way in the past 40 years, but optics have improved dramatically. But can a solid modern carbine paired with an excellent LPVO like the Maven RS.6 – 1-10×28 FFP check the boxes on Cooper’s list of scout rifle requirements? You bet.

The scout rifle was meant to be an ultra portable, reliable, and accurate medium-range rifle, ideal for spot-and-stalk hunting in dense forests and heavily wooded mountains, while still being capable of defensive shooting against dangerous animals on four or two feet. As such, it was a bolt-action carbine in .308 Winchester with an overall length of no more than 39 inches and a barrel of 19 inches or less. Of course, those optimizations came with limitations.

Today, those rifle characteristics are what most hunters who traverse rough country are looking for, and there are a lot of platforms that can fill Cooper’s scout rifle role, though they’ll be called “mountain rifles” or “guide guns.”

There are plenty of AR-10s configured with the exact capabilities Cooper was looking for—save for the bolt action, and a ton of ultra-compact chassis guns in a variety of medium-to-long-range chamberings, as well as more traditional ultra-light mountain guns built with modern methods and materials. You could even jam some modern side-ejecting lever guns of a suitable caliber into the scout rifle role. But what about the optic?

Scout Rifle Glass

Cooper called for a zero-magnification, forward-mounted, low-power, long-eye relief scope, or iron sights. The idea was to have an accurate reticle capable of ranging out to 500 yards, while also leaving the action open for manual reloading once the internal magazine was empty. After all, the scout rifle was a do-it-all rifle, and that included firing numerous rounds when necessary.

Cooper also believed that the forward-mounted optic made for a sight picture that was faster to acquire when the rifle had to be shouldered and fired quickly, and he was right—that’s the very reason red-dot sights are so dominant for medium-range shooting.

For the benefits it offers, a long-eye-relief, forward-mounted scope is interesting, but outdated.

While some older bolt guns might have issues with a scope interfering with the action or the port, most new guns, scope rings, and optics bypass this issue, and other platforms with detachable mags don’t have to address it at all. But, if you’re going to stick with 0x magnification, then save weight and bulk and use a quality red-dot mounted wherever you like.

But why would you limit the rifle’s capabilities when a modern LPVO like the Maven RS.6 fulfills all the scout-rifle optic requirements while also offering way more than a simple red-dot with a payload of just 23.7 ounces?

The Maven RS.6 features a broad magnification range and it’s just as precise at 1x as it is at 10x, while using a versatile FFP reticle designed to let the user take accurate shots out to 500 yards—the RS.6 was specifically designed to bridge the gap between short- and mid-range shooting scenarios. Some older LPVOs were excellent at lower magnifications, but most maxed out at 8x and weren’t very clear or precise when dimed to their max. But that was then, and this is the cutting edge.

With a 34mm tube and a 10.6-inch frame, the RS.6 is at home on an AR, a compact chassis rifle, a lever gun, or even a more traditional bolt gun, and it has features you’re probably used to seeing on larger, high magnification hunting optics. The elevation turret is lockable (a push-pull mechanism that doesn’t require tools) and features a zero stop and a second rotation indicator that makes rezero-ing intuitive and simple.

Cooper wanted a sight picture that was quick-to-acquire—and it doesn’t get much faster than the 5-level reticle illumination on the RS.6 (green and red, your choice), paired with either an MOA or MIL reticle. Each is surrounded by an illuminated quick-acquisition ring for close-range shots, along with a holdover ladder for long-range precision.

The RS.6 is a rugged, feature-rich optic that’s built for the wilderness and can handle anything from point-blank engagements to what would have been considered a long-range shot on game in Cooper’s day.

If you want a truly traditional Cooper-style scout rifle, you can always buy the gun he helped build, the Steyr Scout, and pair it with a similarly traditional optic. But if you’re looking to create a modern rifle with all the scout rifle’s capabilities and then some, the array of firearms, rifle platforms, and light-recoiling, long-reaching calibers you can choose from today is wide indeed, but when it comes to a quality LPVO that is truly versatile and feature-rich, the Maven RS.6 is extremely hard to beat.